What should I do with this ceiling.

I'm remodeling this house and I just knocked down the ugly popcorn ceiling thinking that I would just paint it. But now that the texture is gone I see a lot of imperfections in the drywall. I was thinking perhaps I should re-texture the ceiling before I paint to hide these imperfections.

Is this what I should do? Should I use a primer before texturing and/or before painting? And if I do texture, should I use a jointing compound and a sprayer? That's what I've done before, but I understand there are other ways.

There are some textured paints you can use. Prepping a ceiling is hard work if you don't do it as a profession...working over your head is hard work! It can be done, but it needs to be done well.

This may have some benefit if the ceiling is below the attic - check out www.insuladd.com. It gets added to the paint and because it makes it thicker, it will hide some imperfections. You need two coats.

He said he already knocked it down. Your warning is too late. Now he's just going to worry that he just inhaled a ton of asbestos fibers.

You were probably better off not mentioning anything.

If that ceiling was built prior to the early 70's, then there's a good chance it could contain asbestos.

I still think that the whole thing is a scam anyway. I don't think a little asbestos here and there will cause long term harm. I think the problem is for the people who inhale a lot of it and inhale it often.

It might be a good idea for him to bring in an airscrubber, or hire restoration services to clean up the air, and even measure it. Plus, if he had more he was going to knock down, maybe he won't continue to. Additionally Gabe, how many fibers it is okay to breath, how many fibers would be too much, and how do you know when you reach the limit? You have to also consider the person's health, his family, a pregnant wife, little kids who may grow up in that house, and those fibers just don't go away. He could have a chunk of it analyzed to see if asbestos is indeed, in it, and then, if so, have it monitored and cleaned or whatever, the restoration services would recommend to do. I think, people with Asbestoses would probably, tell you it is not a scam. It is what you don't know that will hurt you Gabe.

There are some test kits for asbestos...it may be best tro know for sure. Depending on how the ceiling texture was removed, (hopefully not sanded!) there may be a lot of particles floating around, or very few (or none, if you are lucky).

The house is from '87 so I'm pretty sure that's post-asbestos. Thanks for the concern though; the last thing I need is some asbestos for my all ready rubbish lungs.

I used a texture sprayer with regular jointing compound to do my house and I think it looks pretty good. I was just wondering if it needed primer first or if a primer would make it look nicer.

I was also wondering if a primer would help with some graffiti. I have a few spots in this house where they wrote on the walls and it's leaked through my fresh coat of paint. I don't think another coat will get rid of it, but if I primer over just that spot will it not look right? Would I have to primer over the whole wall?